Well, the rain finally quit overnight, and Estabrook Park was starting to dry out this morning, but it’s gonna take a while. The river is quite high and is still over its banks at the two bottomlands.
This first picture, however is from very early Tuesday morning, but it was only today, when I finally took a closer look at it, that I discovered it to be of our first Cape May warbler of the season, a female. I’ve only gotten pictures of them a couple of times before (1 and 2), so this could very well be my one picture, such as it is, for this migration.
A bit later that same morning, it almost appears as though the sun was shining through the cloud deck to light up this gorgeous barn swallow, who let me have a much nicer picture than the one back in April.
Okay, now for this morning. I could hear ovenbirds calling loudly at three different locations in the park, and this one by the river even let me sneak another picture.
Farther upstream and across from the upstream island, I finally got a picture of a great crested flycatcher, who I’ve been hearing for a couple of weeks already.
On my way back south, the sun had come out, the sky had turned blue, and I spotted another “rare” Philadelphia vireo.
As I was trying to get a nice picture of the Philadelphia, this red-eyed vireo swooped in as if to say “go eat the bugs elsewhere, ’cause these bugs are mine! All mine!”
Finally, your blossoms of the day are these pretty little chokecherries, which are opening all along the river path. I read that “the fruits … possess a very astringent taste, being both somewhat sour and somewhat bitter,” and it is now the official fruit of North Dakota, not because they are still bitter about South Dakota getting Mount Rushmore, as one might think, but “in part because its remains have been found at more archeological sites in the Dakotas than anywhere else.”
Lastly, I plan to start repaying favors to John Kasper, who has led several wildlife walks in Estabrook Park while I’ve been away, and go join his bird walk at Warnimont Park tomorrow morning. Maybe I’ll get to see the barred owl or eastern whip-poor-will that have recently been spotted there. Wish me luck!
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 